November 22, 1997
Notre Dame West Virginia Final Stats
By John Lukacs, The Scholastic 1997 Football Review
Like a victorious gunslinger riding out of town at sunset, Ron Powlus walked out of Notre Dame Stadium for the last time on November 22 with a 21-14 victory over West Virginia in the home finale.
Silhouetted against a battle-ship gray evening sky, Powlus left his critics and the constant attention behind, the ghosts of interceptions past and of devastating losses.
But most of all, Powlus – who finished nine of 17 for 156 yards and a touchdown – and his teammates played with heart in beating the 22nd-ranked team in the country. The quarterback and the rest of the squad could bask in the glow of the hard fought victory over the Mountaineers, a game so even that the two teams were separated by merely 23 yards of total offense and 30 seconds of possession time, both in West Virginia’s favor. The scoreboard, however, was the only thing that concerned Notre Dame.
“We never gave up hope,” Powlus said. “We never gave up on ourselves.”
After limping out of the gate to a 1-4 start, most college football experts had begun to fill out Notre Dame’s organ donor cards, but after surviving “Famous” Amos Zereoue’s 234-yard rushing onslaught and a late rally by the Mountaineers, the Irish proved they were anything but dead. They emerged victorious and moved above the .500 mark for the first time since early September. “I think it just characterizes our whole team, not just the seniors. We came from behind in the beginning of the year and we just showed our character and prevailed in the end,” senior center Rick Kaczenski said. “We kind of went out with some style. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of in my life.”
Coupled with the surprising 24-6 upset of LSU the previous week, the conquest of the Mountaineers marked the first time the Irish had defeated ranked foes in consecutive weeks since back-to-back victories over Boston College and Penn State in November 1992. “We knew coming in here [that] we got the ball rolling against LSU and we wanted to finish the season strong,” Kaczenski said. “We knew West Virginia was a good team and if we beat them maybe some people would start believing in us.”
The students certainly believed in the team. They stormed the field following the victory in support of their classmates. Filing out of the stadium en masse through the tunnel, they stopped to pay homage to the players.
But after West Virginia took the opening kickoff and casually marched 63 yards for a touchdown on their first possession, converting all four of their third-down opportunities along the way, it looked as if there would be no celebrating for Irish fans.
Notre Dame retaliated on their second possession, though, moving the ball down the field on a 48-yard bomb from Powlus to tight end Jabari Holloway. Seconds later, Clement Stokes dove across the goal line from one-yard out to tie the game 7-7.
On West Virginia’s next possession, however, the Irish got their first glimpse of the wrong side of Amos Zereoue – his back.
After containing last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year on West Virginia’s first two drives, the Irish let Zereoue break loose. He took a pitch left and raced untouched for 60 yards all the way down to the Irish 6. A few seconds later, Zereoue finished the job, taking a handoff up the middle and into the end zone for a 14-7 Mountaineer lead.
Notre Dame’s next possession ended with a fumble by Stokes at the West Virginia 29 but the Mountaineers were unable to capitilize on the mistake. When the Irish got the ball back, they had a new look. Jarious Jackson replaced Powlus for a series and gave the coaching staff some much-needed relief.
Jackson led the offense on a six-play, 67- yard touchdown drive highlighted by Malcolm Johnson’s sensational over-the shoulder catch. The 45-yard grab was the longest of the season for an Irish wideout. “Jarious made a great throw,” Johnson said. “He put it where only I could get it, and fortunately I was able to adjust to the ball.” Jackson and Johnson connected again two plays later on a 7-yard slant for the second Irish touchdown, tying the game at 14 before the teams went into halftime.
Following a third quarter in which neither team scored, West Virginia squandered an opportunity to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter when Ivory Covington intercepted quarter back Marc Bulger’s pass at the Notre Dame 5-yard line.
The Irish offense immediately attempted to cash in on Bulger’s miscue. Running back Autry Denson, who churned out 146 yards and went over the 1,000 yard mark for the season, ripped off a 36-yard gain on the first play and set the tone for the drive. Two plays later, Johnson, whose 125 yards receiving were the most for an Irish receiver since Derrick Mayes had 146 yards agains Texas in 1995, pulled in a key 26-yard pass from Powlus that propelled Notre Dame to the Mountaineer 16. Denson gained 5 yards on two carries, then the Irish faced a critical third-and-five. After a Notre Dame timeout Powlus dropped back and hit Bobby Brown for an 11-yard touchdown with 4:56 left for what proved to be the game-winner.
“For a young man to come back like that and actually win the game with that great route and great catch- that’s the sign of a guy not a sophomore anymore, he’s turning into being a junior,” receivers’ coach Urban Meyer said about Brown’s on field maturity.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Bulger, whose father was a backup quarterback at Notre Dame from 1970-72, moved the Mountaineers down to the Notre Dame 26, with the majority of the damage coming on a 37-yard bomb to Jerry Porter that barely eluded the grasp of Deveron Harper. But three plays later, the Irish secondary would get their hands on the ball.
Senior cornerback Ty Goode, who had replaced Allen Rossum three minutes into the game after Rossum suffered a concussion, intercepted a Bulger pass in the end zone on fourth-and-11 with eight seconds left to clinch the victory. “I just feel great that I can come in and do my job the way that [the coaching staff] expects me to,”
Goode said. “It helps a lot if you can have substitutes come in and do their job the way they are supposed to.”
Eight seconds later, Powlus took a knee and collected Notre Dame’s sixth victory – their third late-game comeback (Georgia Tech and Navy) – was in the books.
“The key to the game was holding Zereoue to 234 yards,” Davie joked after the game. Zereoue’s output, coming on 32 carries, was the most by an opposing running back since Charles White of USC rushed for 261 yards on 61 carries.
After surviving West Virginia’s relent less running game, only one thing was on the minds of Irish players – the next week’s game against the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. With a win against the 3-8 ‘Bows, the Irish would be assured of a trip to a bowl game over the holidays.
Not that anyone was taking Hawaii lightly. The last time Notre Dame traversed the Pacific in 1991, they almost got burnt by more than the sun, barely escaping with their luggage and a 48-42 victory. Continuing his businesslike approach to the end of the season, Davie stressed that the final regular season game in Oahu would not be a pleasure trip. “We’re not going to the beach, we’re not going to get on surfboards, we’re not going to snorkel and we’re not going to get sunburned,” the coach said following the West Virginia game. “We’re going over there to take one more step [toward a bowl].”
And a bowl trip was one step closer after the victory over the Mountaineers.